The Father of Our Country

Kim Roberts Southern Review
With tongue in cheek, Kim Roberts explores the patriarchal origins of our Thanksgiving holiday.

Suspicious: A Biography of Master Spy Richard Sorge

Tariq Ali London Review Of Books
Unlike Kim Philby, Cold War-era Soviet master spy Richard Sorge is not yet the subject of multiple novels, profiles and transatlantic espionage dramas. He, his exploits and his tragic end at the hands of Japanese militarism should be better known.

Vote First or Die

Shehryar Fazli Los Angeles Review of Books
The first-in-the-nation primary, in New Hampshire, looks to many like a quaint relic from a far different USA and a far different time. This book offers a tour of that primary's history and looks at why it endures.

Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun and the Imminent Rerecording War

Eriq Gardner Hollywood Reporter
From the artist standpoint, the influx of private equity into the music business raises the temperature as well. Swift may have hit an industry nerve by pointing to how the Carlyle Group financed Braun's acquisition of Big Machine.

Here nor There

Clint Smith Adroit Journal
The poet Clint Smith, born and raised in New Orleans, writes from a wistful perspective of the city “kept from becoming.”